Box and method of manufacture thereof



May 29, 1 928. 1,671,622 v W. A. WILCOX BOX AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed Sept. 1925 2 Sheet-Sheet 1 May 29, 1928. 1,671,622

w. A. WILCOX 1 BOX AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF Filed Sept. a, 1925 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented May 29, 1928.

UNITED STATES 1,671,622 PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. WILOOX, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, ASSIGNOR TO BAND-BOUND BOX COMPANY, OF SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, A CORPORATION OF WASHINGTON. 7

BOX AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE THEREOF.

Application filed September 8, 1925. Serial No. 54,928.

This invention relates to metal bound boxes in, general, but'more particularly to those which have a construction whereby the foldable blank and other parts of the box can be shipped in a flat condition, and then set up for use when the box is to be filled.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel construction and arrangement of the parts of a box of the foregoing general character, whereby the box may be more economically manufactured and set u for use than heretofore, and whereby t-e box will also be strong and serviceable in use, and not liable to come apart while being filled or during shipment thereof.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction, and combinations tending to increase the general efliciency and the desirability of a metal bound box of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in the matters hereinafter set forth and claimed, and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,-

Fig. 1 is a pers ective of the foldable blank from which t e front and rear sides and bottom of the box are formed, showing the inner side of said blank.

folded to bring the two end sections thereof into vertical planes at right angles to the middle section, which latter forms the bot tom of the box, and showing the one end wall and one of the upper end cleats, also in perspective.

. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but show ing both heads or end walls and both upper cleats in place, so that the box is ready to be filled.

Fig. 4' is a view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the top or cover applied, and showing the end portions of the metal straps bent down and nailed in overlapping relation to the cover and the upper end cleats of the box. v

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail section on line 5'5 in Fig. 4. i

Fig. 8 is asimilar section on line 6-6 in Fig. 4-.

Fig. 7 p is similar to Fig. 6, showing a dif-.

ferent form of the invention:

As thus illustrated, and referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that the foldable blank comprises the boards or sections Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the blank- 1, 2 and 3 flexibly connected together by the metal straps 4 of any suitable character. These straps are secured in place'by nails 5, which extend through the boards or sheets and into the cleats 6, 7 and 8, so that the sheets or boards are fastened between the cleats and the straps. It will be seen that.

, tached to the blank. The upper cleats 12 are similar to the cleats 7, being provided with notches 10 and the grooves 11 previously described.

When the blank is folded as shown in Fig. 2, the cleats 12 are then placed in position, causing their notches 10 to engage the tongues 9, as shown in Fig. 3, after the end walls 13 have been inserted downwardly in- Naturally to the grooves 11 of the bottom cleats 7, as

shown. The said end walls having been slipped into position, and the said cleats 12 having been placed in position, so that the upper and lower edges of the end walls 13 are in the grooves 11 above and below, nails 14 are then inserted from the inside through the tongue and groove joints formed between the upper horizontal cleats 12 and the upper ends of the cleats 6 and 8, as shown in Fig. 3, the nails being partially driven, as shown, so that they can be withdrawn easily when the box is to be collapsed or knocked down, after removal of the contents thereof. The box is then filled, and the cover 15 is then placed in positionon top, as shown in Fig. 4., and the end portions of the straps 4 are then bent over into overlapping position, as shown in Fig. 4, and nails 16 are then inserted through such overlapping portions of the metal straps, downwardly through the cover 15 and into the cleats 12, as shown. Thus the box is securely closed and sealed, and it is held firmly in such closed position, not only by the metal straps 4, which circumscribe the box, but also by the nails 14, inasmuch as these nails absolutely prevent any displacement of the upper cleats 12, or of the end walls 13, while the box is being filled, and have that tendency while the box is closed and during shipment thereof. While the box is in the condition shown in Fig. 3, there are no loose parts, and the cleats 12 and the walls 13 are non-removably locked in position, so to speak, and can only be removed by first forcibly withdrawing the nails lat by which the parts are locked together in box formation.

Afterward, when the box has been relieved of its contents, the said nails 14 can then be removed, the blank can be unfolded and reduced to a Hat condition, as shown in Fig. l, and the cover and end walls and the two cleats 12 can be placed fiatwise upon the blank, and the fiat package thus formed can be shipped or transported with comparatively little expense.

Inasmuch as the cleats 12 are each made of a solid and single piece of wood, or other suitable material it follows that the nails 16 can be inserted through the cover and into these cleats, so that when the nails 16 are withdrawn to open the box, the cover will be uppermost, and the box will be right side up. In other words, the overlapping portions of the metal binding, with the nails 16, serve to indicate which side is the top of the box. The sheets and cleats and end walls can be made of wood or other suitable material, and the straps 4 can be of any suitable metal adapted for this purpose. Or, of course, wires can be substituted for these straps, and staples can be employed to fasten the wires and sheets and cleats together, in the well known manner, and the ends of the wires can then be twisted together to complete the continuity of the metal binding, after the box is filled, in the well known manner, if such is necessary or desirable. There are only two kinds of cleats to be made, the cleats 6 and 8 being all of one kind, and the clcats7 and 12 being all of the other kind, and the construction generally tends to reduce the cost of production and at the same time insure a strong and serviceable box in use.

While the improvements disclosed can, of course, or some of them, be employed in connection with round wire, or flat wire, instead of the sheet metal straps, it is obvious that these improvements are preferably employed in connection with metal straps of any suitable character, which can be nailed in place, and whereby the box as a whole may have the benefit of the common and well-known advantages resulting from the use of metal straps. Furthermore, and while the nails 14 may be withdrawn, as previously explained, in order to knock the box down, it is obvious that the nails may be inserted as shown in Fig. 7 of thedrawings, in which case the nails are driven through and clinched to prevent withdrawal of the box after the contents thereof have been removed. In addition, of course, the

box as a whole has the benefit of the common and well-known advantages of a separate cover, as the cover 15 is not a part of the blank from which the bottom and sides are formed, but is a separate piece, and is not connected to the box until after the box has been filled.

Of course, the nails whether clinched or unclinched, and whether longer or shorter than the thickness through which they are driven, can be inserted from the outside, very obviously, instead of from the inside. They can be of a length to be fully inserted and then clinched either inside or outside, as circumstances may require. If partially inserted, as shown, they are easily withdrawn if the box is opened and relieved of its contents, in the manner described.

Of course, furthermore, staples can be substituted for any of the nails shown and described, in an obvious manner, it such is necessary or desirable.

Thus it will be seen that the first fastening operation performed on the cleats 12 is when these cleats are fastened to the upper ends of the vertical cleats, whereby these top cleats are fastened to the vertical cleats before being fastened to anything else. Ultimately, of course, the cleats 12 are fastened to the top wall 15, and to the overlap ping portions of the metal binding. The end walls 13 are held in place by the top and bottom cleats, but these end walls are unsecured toany of said cleats.

Of course, there are several advantages involved in the overlapping of the end portions of the metal binding upon the top cover of the box, in the manner shown and described. In the first place, it is desirable to manufacture these blanks by machinery, and for such purpose the binding 4 is fed to the machine from coils or reels, and after the nails are driven through the binding into the sheets and cleats, the binding is then severed. Necessarily, the binding cannot be severed by machinery at a point intermediate the front and rear edges of the blank, but is conveniently accomplished at a point in the binding some distance from the rear edge of the blank, and a distance from the front edge of the next succeeding blank. It follows, therefore, that practical considerations of machine production require that the severing of the binding be accomplished in a manner to leave projecting'end portions thereof, at opposite ends of each blank. Also, by this method,

it is obvious that the one operation of completing the continuity of the binding serves also to fastenthe cover in place, for the one operation of securing the cover in place serves also to complete the continuity of the In the drawings, it will be seen that each wall 13 is the same thickness as the tongues 9 and that such wall and tongues are in the same vertical plane. It will also be observed that each wall 13 is in the plane of the overlap or metal binding on top of the box, so that the nails 16 are in the plane of wall 13, at each end of the box. However, the top cleats 12, like the bottom cleats 6, provide sufficient thickness to receive the ,nails. If the nails are short enough, they will not enter the edges of the end walls. In any event, the nails 16 are easily with drawn when it isdesired to open the box,

and the box is then easily knocked down or.

taken apart and reduced to the condition shown in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings; As shown in the drawings, end walls 13 and the notches 10 are the same in thickness, and the grooves 11 are the same width as the notches 10, as shown, sothat each groove 11 terminates at its opposite ends in notches 10 of the same width, whereby "each notch 10 is merely a lateral extension of the groove 11 of each top and bottom cleat.

Without disclaiming anything, .and without prejudice to any noveltydisclosed, what I claim as my invention is:

1. In a box, the combination of side walls and a bottom wall formed by a foldable blank provided with outer continuous flexiblemetal binding and having cleats on'the inside thereof, on each section of the blank, said binding projecting a distance from the opposite ends of the blank, said fcleats having fastening means inserted through each wall into the cleats and bein interlock when the blankis olded, upper separate one-piece cleats engaging the upper ends of the cleats of the side walls, end walls held in place by the up er and lower cleats of the heads or ends 0 the box, but

adapted to unsecured to any of said cleats, fastening devices whereby said upper cleats are rigidly secured in place and held a ainst upward displacement while the box is eing filled, wherebyisaid upper cleats are necessarily fastened to the vertical cleats before being fastened to anything else, and a to cover held in lace by the overlapping en portions of said metal binding, so that the binding extends the full length of the preliminary blank and entirely around the ultimate box, and whereby the one operation of connecting the ends of the binding serves also to secure the cover in'place, said cover being removable to permit removal of the contents of the box, said upper cleats being eacli formed from a single piece with notches'at opposite ends thereof, and being duplicates of the cleats on the bottom, with a longitudinal groove in each upper and lower cleat to hold the upper and lower edges of the end walls, each groove terminating at opposite ends in said notches, and

the upper and lower ends of the vertical cleats having exactly the same single tongue formation to engage said notches, whereby the" box comprises four cleats each having a tongue at each end, and also four cleats each having a notch at each end thereof.

2. A structure as'specified in claim 1, each groove being the same in width as the notches, the tongues and each end wall being in the same plane and the same in thickness, each and every groove having a bottom engaging one edge of an end wall, and each end wall being in the plane of the overlapping binding on top of the box, but the upper edge of each end wall being spaced a distance below the cover to provide top cleat thickness to receive nails for nailing the overlap down.

3. A structure as specified in claim 1, the upright side wall cleats being ungrooved and spaced a distance apart at each end of the boxsubstantially equal to the width of the end walls, so that each end wall while unsecured to any'cleat before the cover is closed is held against edgewise displacement in the plane thereof by its four ed es, and

WILLIAM A. w rnoox. 

